Steve Schramm

I write about marketing, design, business strategy, and productivity. This blog is my personal “cookbook” to help you design a healthier business through self-directed learning. I'm the CEO of NorthMac Services, a small digital marketing and web design agency. 
March 1, 2023

Tired of Spinning Your Wheels? Focus on Marketing that Can’t be Bought

We live in a culture that is obsessed with speed. If we can’t have it now, there is no hope we will ever have it, so our deceptive brains would have us to believe. The problem is, this is entirely untrue. You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Good things come to those who wait.” Waiting is not a mysterious force of the universe. There’s not...
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March 14, 2022

“Sleazy Marketing” vs “Sleazy Pontificating”

I am bothered by the term “sleazy marketing.” The main reason, I think, is because very little information is communicated in the phrase. Worse, it gives the reader too much interpretive leeway. They get to decide for themself what the term means, and that is dangerous anytime you’re trying to communicate something meaningful. For exam...
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March 11, 2022

CEO, or Something Else? The Journey to Becoming My Own Employee

For many years, freedom has been one of my guiding principles. It’s was the beacon that kept me going for years awhile I built my business. Those long morning hours and long nights were in service of something greater than money. The freedom to choose my own way, make my own schedule, and chart my own course. And it worked. But there a...
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December 26, 2021

A hot take on robotics

Growing up a millennial is kind of strange, if you think about it. I was born in 1989, and sort of "sandwiched" in between a generation that was just on the cusp of a modern technological shift and a generation that are "digital natives." Sure, people knew what a computer was, but the concept of a computer in 1989 was completely differ...
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October 29, 2021

The Human Hand is an Engineering Marvel, Admits Facebook

In a recent announcement, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company writ large would be undergoing a name change. They will now be known as Meta. You can find a truncated version of the announcement here. The announcement was....interesting, which you will notice if you take the time to watch. As someone who comments public...
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October 26, 2021

The Psychological Power of a Subscription Business

"If a customer needs to contact you to discontinue the service you are providing, they can’t do so mindlessly. They have to put some thought into explaining why they don’t want or need your service any more. If you provide a great service that solves a genuine problem, they’ll usually realise, upon reflection, that staying with you off...
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October 23, 2021

Be willing to share how the sausage is made

I’ve recently started working with a new client in my marketing studio. We had a classic conversation the other day, during an onboarding call. She was concerned that, if she put content out into the world that explained her beliefs, concepts, and ideas, no one would have any reason to hire her or purchase her services. Can you relate?...
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May 10, 2021

Some Things I'm Trying

I am always in a constant state of self-improvement. At least, I try to be. I am also cognizant of my failure to *actually* improve in many areas. However, it's worth giving new things a try, even though sometimes we will inevitably falter. Here are three new things I am trying right now: 1. A Ketovore Diet. I have seen great health an...
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May 5, 2021

Ketovore

You should have seen how long the title of this blog post was when I first started writing it. I opted for a one worder, instead. So I have been on a ketogenic diet for the better part of 5 years now. I have fluctuated on and off, up and down, but I have been faithful more than I have cheated. Coming off of a fairly significant cheatfe...
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May 5, 2021

It’s about the art, not the attention

"Money is a poor motivator" - A *really* wise person, somewhere It is so easy to get caught up in the emotional consequences of audience-building. It's a two-edged sword, really. On the one hand, there has been no other time in history like this one. Anyone---and I do mean anyone, can experience seemingly overnight success, in just abo...
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May 1, 2021

The blog that no one reads

There is a strange situation that naturally arises in a world where everybody is listening. Sometimes, nobody is listening. Furthermore, sometimes that is a good thing! I started my journey into writing and creating online in 2015. For some reason, I had the burning desire to share my ideas with the world. I had never had this before! ...
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April 14, 2021

The Price of Freedom

How do we evaluate whether a choice we have is in our best interest? What factors should go into making such decisions? No doubt, there are a plethora of possible answers. But I would argue that almost no metric is more important than that of your personal freedom. What is it worth to you to give that up? A salary? A bigger home? A ret...
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March 4, 2021

Like the Internet in the Olden Days

So my three year old has learned to say "the olden days," which is cute and hilarious LOL. And in some ways, this post I am writing feels like the olden days. I am an early adopter to a new email service called HEY, which, as of today, also makes it DEADLY easy to start a new blog. I don't know how often I am going to do this. Heck, th...
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